The ringle is a slip-sleeved CD single packaged with a “free” downloadable
ringtone. I suppose the idea isn’t all that bad: if consumers are out there
buying CD singles, why not throw in a ringtone or two to go with it?

The devil, however, is in the details. First, how many
people actually buy CD singles anymore? As far as I can tell, the only person
who does in my zip code is me. CD singles are dying a slow death,
done in by the grubby hands of MP3 and the polished-white blade of iTunes. The
last time I saw a real-life dedicated music store — which is also dying, sadly –
with a decent-sized selection of CD singles had to have been before even the
original, true Napster. Just how exactly does the RIAA think they can drum up a
market from a group of people that would much rather not get their music through physical transactions, especially when
they’d pay six times the price to do so?

Am I saying the ringle is hopelessly doomed? No. Despite the
stupid name -- more on that in a minute -- I suppose if the RIAA really wanted to
it could somehow force the ringle into a decent market space. But in order to
do that they’d need to promote it with a public face that’s not associated with
bilking dead grannies in
courts over charges of downloading gangster rap. In order to stop doing
that … well, let’s just stop right here and dismiss the idea as impossible.

Second, let me be the seemingly first person to say that all
these stupid product and website names need to stop! Which pre-school did the folks
at the RIAA pull “ringle” from? Will the toddler get royalties for his – and I
use this term loosely – ingenuity? I command the name to immediately die, and suffer
an eternity in stupid-word hell right next to other gems like Joost, Flickr, KRZR, and their
progenitor, blog.

I suppose there is a silver-lining for the soon-to-be “ringle”
train wreck. Hopefully, the ringtone-portion of the ringle will help undercut
the undeserving ringtone market: by selling something that is essentially a
fair-use right for legal music buyers, the ringtone market is effectively
dumbing consumers of their own rights. It’s pleasing to see that at least the RIAA – of all things – recognizes this, even though I doubt its decision was probably made out of altruism.